Archive for June 18th, 2009

At NAB, the Digital Rapids booth is a destination–big and busy, broadcasters lined up at 9a for help with the inscrutable mysteries of encoding, compression, and streaming. This is Digital Rapids’ first year at Infocomm and at their inconspicuous booth (2772) they offer help with the same inscrutable problems. It’s called the TouchStream.

Broadcasters expect pristine quality from a video signal (you can imagine how they feel about streaming). The quote is “never has so much technology been required to make video look so bad.” Here in the world of systems integrators it’s often a win just to get streaming to happen at reasonable quality and within budget. That’s not to say that systems integrators haven’t delivered amazing video pictures–they have. But alot of good-enough also travels over the PEG, worship, and corporate video highways.

With that in mind, Digital Rapids arrives here with a Pro AV market-specific product. more…

Broadcast Pix is here with the prototpye of their new 1080p 3G switcher frame. It’s planned to be a $13,900 upgrade to the flagship Slate G product (late this year). Broadcast Pix has matured into a company that’s increasingly relevent in a world where everyone is a content creator. The Slate G product–which combines switcher, clip store and graphics in one portable, inexpensive system has seen success in the range of live content venues large and small.

The new 3G switcher frame (it’s the IO-looking box in the picture) takes over the video processing chores from the PC-based Slate G workstation (the box under it) which also houses the clip stores, graphics, multiview and CG. The two are connected via simple PCI Express lifeline. It combines with the basic Slate G system (about $11K-23K depending on resolution and panel configuration). The easiest way to understand the model for this prodouct is to read it in Broadcast Pix own words. more…

Adam Holladay of Harman‘s System Development and Integration Group was gracious enough to give me a quick demo of the new version (2.0) of Harman HiQNet’s System Architect Software as the show floor was shutting down tonight when the discussion evolved into a larger look at the arrival of, and Harman’s support for, the new AVB (IEEE Audio Video Bridge) audio networking protocol for standardized ethernet, developed by the IEEE 802.1 Audio Video Bridging Task Group–a consortium of engineers from a wide range of major technology companies, including Harman and many other AV players, as well as from other industries. Adam was raving about the concept and the rise of the protocol as having the potential to inexpensively, and seamlessly, become an industry standard ahead of many well known and respected networking protocols already on the landscape, and soon, maybe within a year or two. more…

I’m always fascinated to hear about the unique development histories of various products, I learned the decade-long background today of JBL‘s new CBT Series Line Array Columns. Chatting with Rick Kamlet, Senior Director of Commercial Installed Sound for JBL, I found out the new series, personified by the CBT 50LA (50cm high compact column relying on a line of eight 2-in. drivers), CBT 100LA (100cm high with 16 2-in. drivers), and CBT 70J speakers (two-way coaxial line array with 16 soft dome tweeters and four 5-in. woofers that is 70cm high) on display at the JBL booth was 10 years in the making. The technology is based on the research of former JBL and longtime audio engineer Don Keele, an inventor of constant directivity loudspeaker horns, who started publishing papers on the concept back in 2000, when he was still with JBL. more…

Wireworks, a leading innovator of audio/video cabling systems and custom panels, is highlighting its renowned and completely adaptable AV2000 MultiMedia Cabling System at this yearâ€™s InfoComm show (Booth 5221). AV2000 now offers users additional cabling elements such as Cat-6, high-speed data, and HD/SDI, high definition video and serial digital interface. Read on at The Briefing Room

Set to be a huge success and crowd puller at InfoComm 09, projectiondesign will lift the wraps off one of the most exciting products to be introduced by the company. The FL32 projector is projectiondesignâ€™s first solid-state LED-based projection system that uses the companyâ€™s new RealLED technology resulting in greatly enhanced image performance and ultralow maintenance. ReaLED technology is projectiondesignâ€™s unique implementation of high performance solid state LED illumination technology, paired with the patented optical system of the F32 platform projectors. The FL32 is set to greatly reduce operating costs, and features a 100,000-hour life illumination system. Read on at The Briefing Room

InfoComm International released some of the data from its most recent poll of its members, including systems contractors, design specialists, and lighting/staging specialists. A key finding in the presentation, given by Duffy Wilbert, InfoComm International’s vice president of membership, was a $75 billion estimate for the value of products and services sold and provided by systems integrators globally. Of that total, about $29 billion came from sales in the U.S. and Canada, with products and services split almost evenly as revenue sources, 51 percent vs. 49 percent, respectively. more…

Lots going on, as usual, from Sennheiser at InfoComm this week. Although the company’s introduction of K-array lightweight speaker technology was a new venture in the speaker category, and upgrades of two wireless mic systems and the introduction of a third (making the company a major player in both the RF and infrared categories) were among its biggest newsmakers today, I was most taken with the company’s ongoing education and service focus. more…

My visit to Epson‘s booth (4127) this afternoon continued what appears increasingly to be a highlight trend for me at InfoComm 09: education. Epson is making a big push with brand new products largely focused on that market. I saw the new, very bright PowerLite Pro Z8000WUNL—possibly the brightest projector ever from Epson, targeted at auditoriums and conference halls. Epson officials, however, told me that the demo of the projector overhead at their booth has also drawn interest from theater folk this week, including guys from the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, in Epson’s California back yard. more…

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The editors of Sound & Video Contractor post live from InfoComm as the news happens. Check back several times a day for the latest industry news, reports from press conferences, and product introductions.